1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a facsimile system, and more particularly relates to a facsimile system and a process of automatically and selectively receiving facsimile transmission for storage in memory when the facsimile system is set in an automatic memory reception mode, and for allowing an authorized operator to access the memory to print the received facsimile transmission.
2. Background Art
Conventional facsimile systems available in the market today contain a long list of sophisticated options for the convenience of users. For facsimile systems used primarily in an office environment, one of those convenient service features is to allow acceptance of an incoming facsimile document only from a particular facsimile transmission source and substantially restrict facsimile communication with other facsimile transmission sources for the purpose of securing its confidential information and avoiding unwanted facsimile transmission, particularly from those for fun or advertising facsimile transmission such as direct mail. Exemplary configurations of such facsimile systems are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,376 for Facsimile Machine And Its Security Control Method issued to Motohama, U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,467 for Facsimile Apparatus Capable of Desired Processing Dependent On Terminal Number Of Calling Party issued to Takehiro et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,253 for Facsimile Apparatus For Receiving Facsimile Transmission Selectively issued to Kida et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,178 for Facsimile Terminal Equipment issued to Yoneda, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,447 for Facsimile Machine issued to Kuwahara et al.
Typically, the facsimile system as disclosed requires that telephone numbers of predetermined facsimile transmission sources be initially registered in an internal memory. After the telephone numbers of the predetermined facsimile transmission sources are registered in the internal memory, the facsimile system carries out comparison of the telephone number of a calling station with the telephone number registered in the internal memory upon reception of an incoming call. As a result, the facsimile system can either accept or reject the facsimile transmission. The facsimile system accepts the facsimile transmission only when the telephone number of the calling station is included in the list of telephone numbers that is registered in the internal memory as acceptable facsimile transmission sources. When the telephone number of the calling station does not correspond to any of the telephone numbers registered in the internal memory, the reception of the facsimile transmission is rejected. Once accepted, the facsimile transmission can be printed directly or indirectly.
Some recent facsimile systems as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,124 for Facsimile System issued to Ikegaya et al., further rely on the comparison of a telephone number of the calling station with a list of telephone numbers of a predetermined facsimile transmission sources to determine a remaining memory capacity of an image memory so as to store the facsimile document in the image memory, while others as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,385 for Communication Apparatus issued to Ejiri, rely on such a comparison to receive the facsimile document in either an automatic reception mode or a manual reception mode.
In such conventional facsimile systems, however, there is insufficient security measure to protect privacy and confidential information. As I have also observed, there is no provision for the facsimile system to effectively manage acceptance of facsimile transmission in different modes of operation. Moreover, there is no provision for multiple users to manage their acceptance of facsimile transmission and protect their own confidential information if the facsimile system is intended for operation in an office environment.